Personal Privilege

David Gaider had the right idea when he had said this quote. Gaider had identified that people would only pay attention if it had affected themselves. If it did not involve them, then they would just ignore what has happened or they may not have even recognized that it had happened in the first place.

Most people may not realise that they are being oblivious to their privileges, but naturally, if something occurs often enough, you start to get used to it. So when a person is privileged all their life, then why would they take the time to realize and appreciate the advantages of being privileged. Yet, this happens far too often for it to be unique, or even considered as a problem.In our world there are three ‘classes’; low, middle, and upper class. Each of these social classes represent where you fit in the world; low class is considered the people who are in poverty and can barely survive, middle class is considered the normal because they can have their basic needs and may only need a little help once in awhile, whereas upper class people can afford anything they want and don’t need anyone to support them. Though middle class seems like a good place to be, there are still way too many people in lower and upper class to balance everything out.

Having these three social classes define where you fit in this world just doesn’t sound right and this is because those people in lower class shouldn’t have to live thinking they are less or having the upper class think that they are superior, everyone should be able to live their lives as equally as they can. This is why middle class is good, but middle class is also bad because they become comfortable. Being comfortable can be nice, but it shouldn’t always be what we should aim for. If you are comfortable, then maybe you could look around and help or even just notice those who are not yet have the privilege in being comfortable with their lives.

Buzzfeed had created a video based on a presentation that one of their workers had attended. This video takes on a visual representation of what privilege can look like based on where you stand. So in this video when they had each row throw their piece of paper, this could be show as the three social classes mentioned above. The front row are the upper class who had no problem getting what they wanted and never complained, whereas the back row(s) are the lower class who saw where they stood and wanted to be treated fair (they were also the ones most likely to fail). Between the front and the back rows are the middle class and each person had a chance of receiving the goal, but those who missed were the ones to complain and the ones who made it decided to just leave it as it is. In the world, we all pay attention to our own surroundings and when it no longer involves us, like when the middle rows made their goal, then those people decided to move on and continue minding their own business. On the other hand, those who get involved and have to deal with the consequences are the people who want to see a change in where they stand.

Just like what Gaider had said, people only want to know how the world affects them and when it doesn’t, then it isn’t a problem. This needs to change and you can be the first step.